Friday, August 20, 2010

Skandor Akbar Dead at 75 by James Caldwell @ www.prowrestlingtorch.com

----Akbar was a big deal in the Mid-South Wrestling days when he was one of their top managers. During the RRO years, he has worked for Bill Ash's Mid-South Wrestling.

By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Long-time wrestling manager Skandor Akbar (Jim Wehba) has reportedly died at age 75. The cause of death is unknown at this time.Akbar was still active in the wrestling business. He was advertised for the"Wrecking Ball Wrestling"promotion's upcoming show on Sunday afternoon in Texas.Akbar is remembered by many wrestling fans as the top heel manager in Fritz Von Erich family's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion in the 1980s. Akbar famously managed the "Devastation, Inc." stable that fed heels to the babyface Von Erich brothers.Earlier this month, Akbar was one of the Wrestling Legends appearing at the annual NWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, N.C.WWE's Jim Ross recently wroteabout his interactions with Akbar at the Fanfest on jrsbarbq.com:"General Scandor Akbar is now 75 and we had a great visit and talked road stories, he was one of my very first traveling partners along with Dan Hodge, and of course the OU-Texas football rivalry. Ak is a Longhorn devotee and that was the topic we engaged in over hundreds of miles of highway back in the '70s. Ak could squeeze blood out of a quarter and was so instrumental in helping me understand that no one makes too little money to not save some of it. The 'squatty fullback of the Vernon, Texas Lions will always be one of my favorite guys. Many don't know how instrumental Ak was in helping steer Steve Austin in the right direction early in Stone Cold's career in Dallas."